Team USA improves to 2-0

Nate Kmic led Team USA in yards from scrimmage on
Sunday in a 48-7 rout of Germany.

Playing its second game in three days, the United States found
five ways to get to the end zone in a 48-7 win over Germany to join
Mexico at 2-0 atop of Group A and set up a clash between the two
teams on Tuesday. The winner of the clash at 7 p.m. in the Tivoli
Stadium in Innsbruck will play for the world title on Saturday,
July 16 in Vienna.

USA opened the scoring with a return for a touchdown on a
blocked field goal, a faked feld goal, an interception return and a
fumble recovery to the end zone on a Germany kickoff return in
addition to two more conventional rushing touchdowns, both by Mount
Union alumnus Nate Kmic.

"We are happy to come out of here with a win," said USA
head coach Mel Tjeerdsman."Germany is a good football team. This
was a strange game. There were so many strange turns of events. We
had 28 points at halftime but only two offensive touchdowns and
only had three offensive touchdowns for the game. I don't think the
score indicates how good Germany is. It was a good football
game."

Early on, Germany's defense frustrated an American offense
that had scored at will against Australia and when USA did score
near the end of the first quarter, the six points came from a
return on a blocked field goal attempt. Germany then put itself
back in contention with a second quarter touchdown.

After the teams traded punts, USA running back Henry Harris spun
away from tacklers for a big gain, taking the ball to midfield.
Quarterback Cody Hawkins found Kmic open in the middle, but when
opting for key yards on fourth down, Germany produced a big tackle
for a loss and took over on its own 19.

Quarterback Joachim Ullrich connected with Dominic Hanselmann
down the sideline for a first down at the 43 and on a play action
pass found Georg Bechtold for another first down in U.S.
territory.

USA defensive lineman Tyler Roach broke through to sack
Ullrich for a loss of 5 yards, but then on third-and-13 the German
signal caller connected with Niklas Romer just 1 yard short of a
first down. Aiming to be the first team ever to score first against
USA in IFAF Senior World Championship history, Germany lined up for
a field goal that was blocked by Jordan Lake and recovered by
Johnny Dingle who raced 75 yards to the end zone for a touchdown
with 1.19 remaining in the opening quarter.

"We felt okay after the first quarter and thought we were
going to take the lead 3-0 and number 92 (Dingle) runs 75 yards,
got a full tank of gas at the 15 and somehow found the end zone,"
said Germany Sport Director Marshall Happer.

"The score doesn't indicate how close the game really was.
As far as the stats go it wasn't too bad. But the team has a lot
speed and talent. We played hard. Our players played every play
like it was the last one and that is all we can ask."

Germany went three-and-out before the running of Kmic and
Harris took the ball to within a yard of paydirt where Kmic took
the handoff for a touchdown and Berkshire's extra point opened a
14-point advantage with 8:43 left in the half.

Team USA's colors flew as the team improved to 2-0
with the win against Germany.

Ullrich connected with Dohrendorf for a big gain in reply
and a penalty helped breach U.S. territory, but the reigning
champions halted Germany's momentum with an interception by safety
Myles Burnsides. The Americans were unable to capitalize as Jasson
Scott produced a key third down stop inside the red
zone.

Two tackles for losses and a pass breakup by Joe
Sturdivant forced Germany to punt away its next possession and a
Daniel Tromello return moved USA all the way to Germany's 11-yard
line.On third-and-5 after Germany looked to have
held, NCAA all-time leading rusher Kmic again took the handoff and
with quick cuts and strength powered through to the end zone from 6
yards out to lead 21-0.

"Their secondary was very physical," said Kmic. "I got
popped a couple of times and I wasn't sure if I would get back
up. It was a good game and a lot of fun to
play."

Germany hit back and starting on their own 19 after a late
hit penalty, Ullrich found Hanselmann for a first down before
another infringement moved the ball to within sight of the end
zone.Ullrich lofted a 24-yard pass over coverage
and into the hands of Christian Bollman in the corner of end zone
for a touchdown to reduce the deficit to 14 points with 1:15 left
in the half.

The German defense appeared to have held the final US
onslaught of the half, but holder Hawkins faced a field goal
attempt and fired a 12-yard pass to Richie Brockel for a touchdown
and 28-7 lead as time expired.

Germany opened the second half brightly and starting at
their own 21, recovering from a blitz and a sack that disrupted the
passing game for Ullrich to pick out Nikals Romer for a first down
at the 42.USA safety Joe Sturdivant was not
fooled by the play action, tackling running back Danny Washington
on the handoff for loss of 4 then Julian Dohrendorf made a catch on
third down 2 yards short of moving the chains. Down by 21, Germany
went for broke and produced a first-down Romer grab at the U.S.
39.

Just when Germany looked to be targeting a comeback, USA
safety Maurice Banks intercepted Ullrich, returning the ball 77
yards, all the way for a touchdown and a 34-7 lead after a bad snap
on the extra point attempt.

Mistakes continued to haunt Germany and proved
costly. A bad snap over the punter's head gave
USA the ball 2 yards from scoring and Da'Shawn Thomas burst 2 yards
down the middle on the next play for a 41-7 lead then Terrance
Jackson recovered a fumble and raced 10 yards to the end zone on
Germany's next kickoff return.

In addition to Kmic's game-high eight catches for 77 yards
and five carries for 22 yards, Division III football was
represented by Louisiana College quarterback Ben McLaughlin, who
completed five of six passes for 43 yards. Occidental alum Jason
Haller caught four passes for 29 yards, Otterbein's Ricardo Lenhart
had an 8-yard reception, St. Lawrence defensive lineman Gerard
Bryant had a 13-yard sacks and Occidental's Daniel Tromello had a
tackle and three punt returns for 44 yards.